MECHTHILD OF MAGDEBURG 



asked nor accepted alms, but supported herself 

 by manual labour or by teaching the children of 

 burghers, whilst those who were able to do so 

 spent their time in taking care of the sick or in 

 other charitable offices. Each community, with 

 a " Grand-Mistress " at its head, was complete in 

 itself, and regulated its own order of living, 

 though, later, many of them adopted the rule of 

 the Third Order of St. Francis. 



Mechthild tells us that she knew but one 

 person in Magdeburg, and that even from this 

 one she kept away for fear lest she might waver 

 in her determination. In this very human way 

 she indicated that her spiritual adventure was 

 no easy matter to her, as, indeed, it could not be 

 so long as her temperament and ideals were at 

 variance. But gradually, she says, she got so 

 much joy from communion with God that she 

 could dispense with the world. As has been 

 well said, " La loi des lois c'est que tout morceau 

 de Tunivers venu de Dieu retourne a Dieu et 

 veut retourner a lui." 



The book of her writings, which, under 

 divine direction as she opens by saying, she calls 

 The Flowing Light of the Godhead* is com- 

 posed of seven parts, of which six appear to have 

 been written down during the time she was a 

 beguine at Magdeburg, and were collected and 

 arranged by a Dominican friar, Heinrich von 



1 P. Gall. Morel, Offenbarungen der Schwester Mechthild von 

 Magdeburg^ oder das fliessende Licht der Gottheit^ Regensburg, 

 1869. 



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